Study Finds Popcorn Butter Alternatives Also Toxic

Just a few short years ago, famed popcorn label Orville Redenbacher said it would eliminate all diacetyl (the chemical in alternative butter that is linked with health problems in many workers, possibly a few deaths and destroying the lungs of popcorn addicts) from popcorn. Soon popcorn makers everywhere followed suit, removing diacetyl and replacing it with newer, safer butter alternatives. Turns out now those alternatives are really just another form of diacetyl and this time even the lawyers are agreeing, reports Sphere News. The diacetyl alternatives, release diacetyl when they are heated or in the presence of water. Next, the diacetyl alternatives are considered a "natural material" which is great for all of those green marketing campaigns advertising popcorn with "newer, safer butter alternatives." A lawyer for the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association says he has encouraged manufacturers to not state that their products are diacetyl-free or to even use these alternatives, but without government regulation to back this up, these are merely suggestions. At this time, the Obama Administration is looking into it but has said they don't plan any results or decisions for another year. Manufacturers won't talk specifics on what they use for butter alternatives because competition in the popcorn market is fierce.

Just a few short years ago, famed popcorn label Orville Redenbacher said it would eliminate all diacetyl (the chemical in alternative butter that is linked with health problems in many workers, possibly a few